Curtain Call
by Kerreb17
Summary: Cerebella's glum expression after defeating the Skullgirl must be due to something, so how does she cope after it all ends? Alternate Ending. One-shot.


**Author's Notes: This story assumes that Cerebella's story has gone to its completion. What you are about to read is a hypothetical extension of her ending. Somewhat sad, but I'd offer that it's somewhat interesting as well. It is plausible? Maybe.**

**I haven't written anything in a while, so I might be rusty. I would like to try and foment the growth of the Skullgirls section, though. I'm sure that it'll pick up eventually, but we'll just have to wait and see.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

It was a cold night like any other in the brightly lit New Meridian. A crescent moon vainly tried to shine through to the streets below, but the numerous pitch-black clouds in the sky cast it out in silence. Even the wind stuttered as it crashed into the metal monoliths crowding the city. Nobody paid it much mind, though. They claimed that it was business as usual and simply went on with their lives.

Unbeknownst to them, however, a great foe had been defeated. Bloody Marie, victim to the corrupting passion of the Skull Heart, had died knowing that she had nothing left to save in herself. The only thing in the world that she could have saved at that point was the Skull Heart, but even its imperfect power couldn't salvage her from the bony ruins in which she lay. And so she died as she had lived—regretful of her decisions, past and present. But she wasn't the only one in the catacombs that night who had felt that same emotion.

"You've exceeded my greatest expectations, Cerebella." Vitale said with a smile on his well-groomed face, marred only by a small square patch of brown hair on his chin. As he eyed the voluptuous circus star through his gold rimmed glasses, he constantly took wry glances at her curves as if expecting something even greater than his greatest expectations. "With the Skullgirl defeated, the Life Gem returned, and that nasty Nadia Fortune taken care of, I can't help but be impressed. I always knew that you were a good girl."

Cerebella sighed. Everything around her had changed so quickly. Instead of her normal orange-black checkered costume that she wore during her circus performances, she had decided to cater to Vitale's imagination by wearing a tiny black dress that was only barely able to contain her breasts. Vice-Versa too had been changed, sporting a fuzzy white texture and bunny ears instead of the usual spikes atop Cerebella's teal hair. What had once been a grand fighting duo had now been turned into something much less threatening, and this dug a pit of unhappiness into her subconsciousness.

But looking from a fair fold, Cerebella had gotten exactly what she had wanted. She had vanquished the Skullgirl, vanquished most if not all of the Medici family's enemies in one fell swoop, and, as a result, vanquished any remaining restraint holding back Vitale's admiration. She had even saved the Skull heart, which she had put in a small chest in her closet. But as the Skull Heart had been locked away, so had Cerebella's heart been locked inside the Medici Tower where she sat. What reason did she have to be melancholy?

"Hm? Is something wrong, Cerebella?" Vitale said, noticing the glum expression living on her face. "Aren't you satisfied with everything that you've done?"

The performer paused to think. For some reason, she couldn't stop reliving that moment. It was a moment driven by unadulterated rage and vindication. But why should she be regretful for killing Nadia? Ms. Fortune had threatened the Medici family—no, it was Cerebella's family as well—and was crushed as a result. But the moment wouldn't stop playing within her head; it was like a looped reel of film that wouldn't slow down no matter how much she tried to stop it.

"I'm fine." she replied, immediately picking up a slight smile. "I'm just very tired, that's all."

"Well then..." Vitale paused, scratching his chin. "Why not get to bed? If you're tired, that would make the most sense."

"Sure, that sounds like a plan." she said as she walked over to the large glass window overlooking the New Meridian streets. Try as she might, she couldn't see a single star shine through the dark clouds and bright lights. "But Vitale, can I ask you something personal?"

"Yes. What is it?"

"Have you ever felt like you've been thrown out of yourself?" she turned and faced him directly. "Have you ever felt like a stranger in your own skin?"

"Hm? That's an odd question." he replied, pushing his glasses up with his middle finger. "I haven't, to tell you the truth."

"You haven't?"

"I haven't." he paused. "But what made you think about that?"

Cerebella merely smiled back, content with her facade. Looking deep into his eyes, she saw two things: curiosity and desire. His brown eyes spoke tales to her. They told her stories of a man who loved what he did and was truly grateful for what he did and what others had done for him. They laughed even when his expression was as flat as that one Peacock girl's chest. They seemed much different than he was, and she couldn't figure out why.

"Well, I'm going to bed." she dodged the question. "Don't stay up all night thinking about me, alright?"

Vitale gave his characteristic proud smile, walking over to Cerebella and grabbing her shoulder with a heavy thrust.

"Now _that's_ the Cerebella that I recognize." he laughed in a hearty tone. "Don't worry, I won't. Just go to sleep and we'll sort everything out tomorrow morning if you're willing."

"You got it, Vitale." she said in false exuberance. "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, the mobster grabbed a drink off of the table in the center of the room and walked down a dim hallway off to the right. The almost imperceptible sound of a door shutting could be heard.

Cerebella stood there in thought for a while. Everything was perfect, but at the same time...

"I can't believe this." she lightly spoke to herself. "How weak of me. I got everything I wanted. Shouldn't I be happy?"

Taking Vice-Versa off of her head, she stared at the small cap that he had become. He was something that was so tiny and seemingly insignificant, but he could transform into a wrecking crew of pain and destruction with the literal drop of a hat. Even if he couldn't speak, she was sure that he'd tell her to suck it up and keep going. Tomorrow was most likely going to be a bright and beautiful day, and the circus crew needed to practice for the big show that was coming up this weekend.

She looked out through the window again and saw the clouds hiding the stars. It was in that exact moment that she made the connection. She was a star—or maybe even as grand as the moon—but was blocked from the world by a set of hazy clouds. Were the hazy clouds her morals? Were they the mafia? She stood there a while just thinking about the possibilities.

"Vitale said that I needed to get the Life Gem at any cost. But even so...was I wrong in taking Nadia's life in exchange for this piece of jewelry?"

With a deep sigh, Cerebella went off down the left hallway from the lobby. Taking her first left, she came into her room and hung the snow white cap upon a small hat rack off to the right of the door. Her orange-black checkered bed beckoned for her, as she truly was tired, but something else beckoned for her even harder. Even though she couldn't hear it, the Skull Heart called for her and touched the very essence of her being.

"It was all this Skullgirl's fault." Cerebella said to herself. "If not for her, I could have simply wished that I had the life gem without having to kill Nadia. I could have even wished for Vitale's love. But I wasn't thinking right, was I?"

Opening her closet off to the left, she pulled out a very small brown chest out from among her various outfits and plopped it onto the bed. Opening a small drawer off to the right of her bed, she grabbed a small silver key that had only been used once in its lifetime. It was about to be used a second time.

"Well I'll show that Skull Heart that it can't mess with me anymore." she recited forcefully to herself as she put the key into the lock. "I'll just destroy it. That's what I'll do. That's what'll make me happy right now."

Turning the key, the chest popped open as if something had been waiting to spring out of it. The Skull Heart, barely able to fit into its prison, simply lay in the bottom with that sadistic smile printed across its face. The dark blue energy radiated outwards, giving a sinister glow to Cerebella and the room in itself.

"Oh, so you've finally decided to make a wish." a deep voice began. The Skull Heart's mouth wasn't moving, but there was no doubt that it was the one speaking. "I'm curious as to what you want. Money? Power? Fame and Fortune, maybe?"

"Nothing like that." Cerebella replied. "I'm just going to destroy you and have one less Skullgirl in the world. How does that sound?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." the voice replied, this time with a hint of anger. "You can never eliminate the Skullgirls for good. There will always be more, just itching to kill you and everyone you love."

This much was true, Cerebella thought. And if she made a wish, she'd most likely turn into something like Marie had been. She didn't want to be like Marie: an effigy of unhappiness and regret. But...wasn't she already like that right now? Making that wish wouldn't change anything, would it?

"Strange..." a small voice crept in from the back of her mind. It reminded her of something like the Skullgirl, but much weaker and more kind. "You are pure, somehow untouched by the company that keeps you."

"...Marie?" Cerebella called out. Obviously, nobody answered.

The room was quiet, but she had definitely heard something. But Marie, that heinous creature, was dead. How could she, especially knowing that she was under the influence of the conniving Skull Heart, understand Cerebella to the deepest depths of her character?

"If I'm pure..." Cerebella said to herself. "Then this is what I'll do. If I'm _truly_ pure, then I can make this wish!"

"Oh, so you're ready to make your wish, huh?" came the Skull Heart's voice. "What'll it be?"

"I wish that everything was back to the way it was before I killed the Skullgirl!"

* * *

As the blackness faded away, Cerebella awoke in the dark cathedral. She was dressed in her usual get-up: the orange-black checkered circus outfit. Vice-Versa seemed normal too, the same color as he had been during the incident. She sat up and looked around her. On the floor lay two familiar individuals: that nurse Valentine and the hideous morphing creature thing. They hadn't been any problem at all for the grappler before, so it made sense that they were still beaten senseless.

"Did it work?" Cerebella asked herself as she stood up off of the ground. "I made my wish, but is everything how I wanted it to be?"

The cathedral was just how it had been before. There was a very scant amount of light passing through the stain glass windows, illuminating only the center of the church. She assumed that the dark clouds were still looming over New Meridian as they had before. But more importantly, she assumed that the Skullgirl was still waiting for her in the catacombs.

And so, without a word, she descended the long flight down into the basement to find, just as there had been before, a small silver-haired girl waiting for her. She was standing in a field of bones, complementing the bone fragments that kept her twin-tails together in her hair. Her scarlet red eyes and the bright blue energy veins lit up the dark room, and Cerebella was once again tasked with defeating the Skullgirl and hopefully claiming the Skull Heart for her own.

"The feral you seek is not here." the small girl said calmly. "It is only I, Marie."

"That's a pleasant name for a Skullgirl." Cerebella noted surreptitiously. "You don't mind if I claim your Skull Heart, do you?"

"Do you think that you can?"

"It's not that I can, it's that I must."

"Strange..." Marie spoke, not even pausing to blink. "You are pure, somehow untouched by the company that keeps you."

Cerebella smiled, knowing the eventual outcome of the battle. It had already happened before, after all.

"Well, you've got one thing right. I am strange." she said cockily with a hand wave. "But now that I know who I am and what I really want this time, I say that we take it from the top. What do you say?"

"What ever are you talking about?" Marie asked with an offended look on her face. "I'm surprised that you're taking the power of a Skullgirl lightly. Don't you realize that I'm about to pulverize you into dust? I can't let the Skull Heart fall into the hands of the Medicis!"

"I've seen the movie already. I know how this all ends." Cerebella replied with confidence. As Vice-Versa clenched its fists, she simply smiled from ear to ear. "So let's see the good ending this time, shall we?"

* * *

**Author's Notes: It's my first fic for Skullgirls, so I guess that I have to be proud of it. I think that it went over well, don't you?**

**It has a bit of an ambiguous ending. I hope that you don't mind. There is, after all, place for people to write their own endings if they want. That's what's so great about fanfiction, in my opinion; it's that the possibilities are endless!**

**Anyways, I've been planning some other fics for a while now. Seeing as my escapades into Touhou fiction ended in miserable failure (my motivation took a huge kick to the balls), maybe this will end up differently. Who knows?**

**I hope that you enjoyed the story. I would really appreciate it if you left a review so that I could improve upon myself. So until next time, thanks a bunch for reading! Cheers!**


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